Judaism and Story: The Evidence of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan. Chicago Studies in the History of Judaism.

Aus der Bibliothek von Prof. Wolfgang Haase, langj�igem Herausgeber der ANRW und des International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT) / From the library of Prof. Wolfgang Haase, long-time editor of ANRW and the International Journal of the Classical Tradition (IJCT). - Bleistiftanmerkung auf Schmutztitel, sonst ein sehr gutes Exemplar / pencil annotation on half title, otherwise a very good copy. - In this close analysis of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan, a sixth-century commentary on the Mishnah-tractate The Fathers (Avot), Jacob Neusner considers the way in which the story, as a distinctive type of narrative, entered the canonical writings of Judaism. The final installment in Neusner�s cycle of analyses of the major texts of the Judaic canon, Judaism and Story shows that stories about sages exist in far greater proportion in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan than in any of the other principal writings in the canon of Judaism of late antiquity. Neusner�s detailed comparison of The Fathers and The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan demonstrates the transmission and elaboration of these stories and shows how these processes incorporated the newer view of the sage as a supernatural figure and of th,e eschatological character of Judaic teleology. These distinctions, as Neusner describes them, mark a shift in Jewish orientation to world history. Judaism and Story documents a chapter of rabbinic tradition that explored the possibility of historical orientation by means of stories. As Neusner demonstrates, this experiment with narrative went beyond the borders of rabbinic preoccupation with rhetorical argumentation focused on the explication of the Torah. The sage story moved in the direction of biography, but without allowing biography to emerge. This development, in Neusner�s account, parallels the movement from epistle to Gospel in early Christianity and thus has broad implications for the history of religions. / Contents Preface Introduction: From Aphorism to Story and from Epistle to Gospel in Judaism and Christianity From Aphorism to Story From Epistle to Gospel Narrative as a Medium for Making a Religious Statement The Sage-Story and the Advent of the Sage Part One Rhetoric and Topic: The Comparison of Literary and Programmatic Traits 1. The Structure of The Fathers and of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan From Aphorism to Story: The Transformation of The Fathers The Principles of Composition: Comparison and Contrast Comparing The Fathers to The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Comparing The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan XXIV-XXX to The Fathers One Program of Composition: The Shared Structure of The Fathers and The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan 2. The Matter of Rhetoric: The Forms of the Fathers and of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Consensual Authorship and Formalized Rhetoric What We Learn from Analyzing Rhetorical Form The Forms of The Fathers The Forms of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan The Forms of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Compared to The Forms of The Fathers Comparison and Contrast in the Literary Programs of the Two Documents 3. The Matter of Topic: The Topical Program of The Fathers and of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan From Style to Substance Points in Common, Points of Difference Comparison and Contrast in the Topical Programs of the Two Documents Where The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Differs from The Fathers The Advent of the Holy Sage and of Episodes in the Lives of the Saints The Sage, the Story, and the Advent of History Part Two Logic and Proposition: Narratives in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan 4. The Matter of Logic and Proposition: The Burden of Narrative in the Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan The Three Logics of Intelligible Discourse and the Importance of Narrative Narrative as Mode of Thought, Medium, and Message An Inductive Taxonomy of Narrative in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan An Inductive Taxonomy of the Story in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Scripture-Stories Concerning the Creation Scripture-Stories Concerning Moses and Israel Indicative Traits of the Scripture-Story 5. The Sage-Story in Particular From Aphorism to Story The Scripture-Story and the Sage-Story: Differences in Narrative Convention The Repertoire of Sage-Stories The Propositions of Sage-Stories Names Not Celebrated, Stories Not Told Part Three Comparisons and Contrasts: The Story in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan in Canonical Context 6 These Stories in Particular: The Stories in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan in Comparison to Their Use in Other Compositions The Canonical Context Stories That Matter Old or New? If New, Then What Changes? If Old, Then How Different? The Contribution of the Story: Why Was This Medium Chosen for This Particular Message? The Documentary Perspective on the Advent of the Story 7. The Story in General: Its Function in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan and in Other Compositions Contradiction and Conundrum What Is at Stake? Differentiating the Varied Uses of the Story in Diverse Documents of the Dual Torah The Singular Stories Revisited: The New and the Old The Story in General 8. Judaism and Story Appendices 1. The Sayings of the Fathers 2. Appendix to Chapter One: Comparing The Fathers to The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan 3 The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan Chapters XXIV-XXX Compared to The Fathers 4. The Repertoire of Formal Rhetoric of The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan 5. Topics Treated in The Fathers and Not in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan 6. Topics Treated in The Fathers According to Rabbi Nathan and Not in The Fathers 7. Life, Death, and Torah Study Abbreviations index of Biblical and Talmudic References General Index. ISBN 9780226576305